Kumail Nanjiani says Elon Musk did not like HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’: ‘He was like, all the parties I go to are much cooler than these parties’
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In 2018, Musk vigorously denied he had attended a “sex party,” saying he thought it was just a costume party.
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August 18, 2025
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·Fortune IntelligenceKumail Nanjiani says Elon Musk did not HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’: ‘He was , all the parties I go to are much cooler than these parties’By Dave SmithBy Dave SmithEditor, U.S
NewsDave SmithEditor, U.S
NewsDave Smith is a writer and editor who previously has been published in Insider, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA TODAY.SEE FULL BIO Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, was not a fan of the show’s depiction of startup culture.Antonio Masiello—Getty ImagesKumail Nanjiani, the 47-year-old star of HBO’s acclaimed comedy Silicon Valley, which ran from 2014 to 2019, recently revealed he has met many people from the real-world Silicon Valley, and not everyone was a fan of the show’s depiction of startup culture
Chief among those people, he said, was Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and world’s richest man
Speaking on Mike Birbiglia’s podcast, Nanjiani was asked if he ever met the billionaires his show would lampoon, and Nanjiani said yes, he had met Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others
But when Birbiglia asked if Musk d the show or gave any back, Nanjiani replied, “He didn’t the show. “He was , all the parties I go to are much cooler than these parties
I was , yeah man, you’re one of the richest people in the world
We’re, , losers on the show,” he said. “Of course your parties are better than my parties.” Created by Mike Judge of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill fame, HBO’s Silicon Valley ran for 53 episodes spanning six seasons
The series ed Richard Hendricks, a brilliant but awkward grammer who builds a startup with his friends called Pied Piper
While its accuracy was often debated, the show satirized Big and corporate culture, and critics comm its sharp, pointed writing that made fun of “brogrammer culture” and eccentric billionaires
Silicon Valley received five consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series
To Musk’s point, parties in the real Silicon Valley are bably “cooler” than the ones on the HBO show, but, Big itself, many have reported on their tendency to push boundaries
Emily Chang’s 2018 book, Brotopia, described secretive gatherings featuring drug use and open sexual behavior among elites
Chang said these events, att by venture capitalists and founders, often involved drugs MDMA and “cuddle puddles” that encouraged intimacy, with women reporting stigma and exclusion depending on whether they participated or abstained
Chang’s book claimed Musk att at least one such party in 2017, held at investor Steve Jurvetson’s house, but Musk has since vigorously disputed the characterization of the event as a “sex party.” Musk said he believed the gathering was a costume party, saw no signs of inappriate behavior, and left early
He vided the ing statement to Wired in 2018: “Nerds on a couch are not a ‘cuddle puddle.’ I was hounded all night by DFJ-funded entrepreneurs, so went to sleep around 1am
Nothing remotely worth writing happened,” he said. (DFJ refers to venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.) You can all six seasons of Silicon Valley on HBO Max
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